What Chung REALLY thinks about Clavijo

Discussion in 'Colorado Rapids' started by Wendys, Jan 9, 2006.

  1. Wendys

    Wendys Member

    Mar 28, 2000
    As was mentioned in another thread about Mark Chung, he did an interview in the December 2005 issue of American Kicker magazine. They have a website http://http://americankicker.com/index.htm, but it only has one page to subscribe, with none of their material online. It's not a very long interview, but it had me laughing. Here it is:

    It's titled The Coaches I loved and Hated

    Who's the best coach that you ever had?
    Chung: "Dominic Kinnear. For Sure. No one comes close."

    Why?
    Chung: "Anything that you can think of soccer-wise, he does great. He treats players with respect and is completely upfront and honest with players about why or why they are not playing. His practices have a purpose. We worked on things in practice that were important for us in games. There is no B.S. in Dominic's practices. We played hard and sharp for an hour and fifteen minutes and were done. It was so organized."

    Greatest memory of that coach?
    Chung: "There are so many. Too many to talk about."

    Who's the worst coach that you ever had?
    Chung: "Fernando Clavijo. Clavijo was the Bizarro (Superman's nasty opposite) of Dominic Kinnear. I never thought a coach could be worse than Octavio Zambrano, but Clavijo buried Zambrano. He was horrible."

    Why?
    Chung: "His training sessions were just stupid. We had to run and lift weights for two hours on the Mondays following games. We would do long stupid runs. And then we would do longer stupid runs. And then some longer and dumber runs. Follower by an annoying long weight lifting session. I've asked dozens of trainers if this is smart thing to do after a game and they all look at me as if I had eight heads.
    I used to think that all ex-players would make great coaches because they know exactly how the players think and what they want. And Clavijo was an awesome player. However, Clavijo must have got that concussion syndrome or something because he totally ruined that theory of mine. He was untrustworthy and pretty immoral to us as players. I still don't understand what happened to him along the way and why he lost touch with how players think."

    Worst memory of Clavijo as a coach?
    Chung: "His face! Maybe when he showed up every day!
    One time we went to Ecuador in preseason. (By the way, who the hell intentionally goes to Ecuador for preseason?) One day, we drove 2.5 hours down some rickety winding Ecuadorian roads to play in a supposed game. However when we arrived we found that there were huge holes all over the pitch and it was completely unplayable. My knees still get sore just thinking about it. So we got back in the crappy bus and went back to our hotel down the same winding roads. By the time we returned it was pitch black out and it was after eight o'clock. So what does dumb-dumb Clavijo decide? That's right. We had to train. And when I say train, I mean Clavijo's definition of the word "train." Yeah, we just ran for 2 hours."
     
  2. DavidJames

    DavidJames Member+

    May 11, 2003
    Longmont
  3. BPBlueSox

    BPBlueSox Member

    Ajax
    Netherlands
    Aug 21, 2003
    Georgia
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    While I may not really care for Clavijo much, I become less impressed with Chung everytime he opens his mouth.
     
  4. bigdush

    bigdush New Member

    Jul 22, 2003
    Parker, CO
    I liked Chung and thought he was a good player. But if he were half as good as he thought of himself, he wouldn't have been playing in the U.S. for very long (he'd have been in europe with one of the "big clubs").

    I remember a night at the bubble where he nutmegged me, then decided to try and do two more people, by the time he was beating the third I stripped him and knocked the ball out of bounds. He made some crazy comment about how Pu$$ies defend by knocking the ball out of bounds. The whole time I was thinking, what in god's green earth makes you want to come in here and play with a bunch of freakin hacks anyway. I've since concluded that he had some sort of inferiority complex and that's how he got his jollies (really I'm just making jokes folks, I have no idea why he was there).

    Disclaimer: I'm not defending Clavijo here, I still can't comprehend any good that would come out of going to Ecuador to play preseason.
     
  5. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    He burned a lot of bridges on his way out of Kansas City.
     
  6. Bonji

    Bonji Moderator

    Feb 4, 2003
    Denver, Colorado
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sounds like sour grapes to me.
     
  7. WJMarx

    WJMarx BigSoccer Supporter

    May 5, 2003
    Boulder, CO
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Even worse.

    Shocking and immature! Absolutely classless interview. If one cannot improve on silence then they should shut-up.
     
  8. Northcal19

    Northcal19 New Member

    Feb 18, 2000
    Celtic Tavern LODO (
    At the risk of being the lone ranger, as unfortunate as Chung's remarks may have been, I think he is right about Clavijo. Since Mooch left Colorado we have spiralled into really bad coaching.

    But don't take my word for it; as Jeff Cunnungham, or Chris Henderson, or ....
     
  9. DavidJames

    DavidJames Member+

    May 11, 2003
    Longmont
    No thanks, players opinions are interesting to read, especially when the don't give a sh!t about what they say, but for me, I'll make my own opinion based on what I expect and what I see.
     
  10. Wendys

    Wendys Member

    Mar 28, 2000
    While I agree with most that a true pro shouldn't EVER do an interview like the one above, you definitely aren't the lone ranger. The few Rapids training sessions I've been out to since FC took over were borderline ridiculous. Unlike any other pro sessions I've seen before.

    Several current Rapids have echoed Chung's comments in private, but would obviously never go on record about it.
     
  11. Quango

    Quango BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 25, 2003
    Colorado
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Did he really use the word "dumb-dumb?" I mean if you're going to b* about your coach, at least call him a dumb-a*. Something you're going to have to bleep or something. It sounds like a war of words between 3rd graders, which may very-well be the intellectual grounding of the whole thing.

    He seems to be complaining about fitness training. I don't know anything about pro soccer training, but is that something players are expected to do on their own time? I thought that was the whole point of having a fitness coach, i.e. getting a guy to train the team, so they don't peter out in the 70th minute.

    I can understand him not working well with Clavijo, but he should have asked for a trade earlier. We didn't need him playing at 50% for the first five games last season.

    Q
     
  12. spot

    spot Member+

    Nov 29, 1999
    Centennial
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What did Hendo say?
     
  13. WJMarx

    WJMarx BigSoccer Supporter

    May 5, 2003
    Boulder, CO
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I am sorry to digress from the topic at hand, however, I have known Mooch for a long time. In the "80's" he recruited my oldest son to Hartwick College although my son chose to attend elsewhere. These were the halcyon days of Hartwick soccer and Mooch contributed substantially. One of my daughters-in-law worked for Mooch at Hartwick College and remembers him fondly as a kind, thoughtful and honorable man. However, since his days at Hartwick College, Mooch has not had an impressive coaching record. All of his teams since then have been mediocre at best. Under his tutelage the Rapids were ordinary. Indeed, the history of the Rapids has been ordinary under each and every coach. Clavijo's era is still fresh and undefined. The future will be inscribed in the future not the past.


    Wendys comment about additional disparaging comment made privately by others towards Clavijo is simply not worth sharing. During my working years I chaired a medical department at a midwestern university. Occasionaly I received complaints about my staff from co-workers and/or patients unwilling to transcribed their complaints. I considered these complaints to be unsubstantiated rumors and relegated them to the garbage heap. Secretive complaints are not worth the words being uttered!!! If there is substance, stand by the comments or shut-up!!!
     
  14. askum33

    askum33 New Member

    Jun 2, 2004
    San Antonio, TX
    Wendy,
    I don't question your integrity at all.
    With that said, I have a hard time believing this article is real. I'm having a hard time swallowing the idea that a pro made these comments about any coach. But on the other hand, this is Chung, so maybe, just maybe.
     
  15. FC5280

    FC5280 Member

    Dec 21, 2003
    personally i could give a rats ass about Mark Chung. For all his ability the guy NEVER showed up in big games. NEVER. And that's why San Jose went packing in round 1.
     
  16. bilfish

    bilfish New Member

    Feb 23, 2004
    Golden, CO
    Just out of curiosity, why is it unprofessional for Chung to make the comments he made?

    Some of them sounded a bit rough around the edges, but otherwise it's exactly what fans always complain that we *don't* get....

    Honest, unabbreviated answers from players without jerkhead PR guys interpreting it into mushy nothingness. Good, bad, or ugly.

    Cheers,

    BilFish
     
  17. Northcal19

    Northcal19 New Member

    Feb 18, 2000
    Celtic Tavern LODO (
    Let's say you aren't Landon Donavan and your job is dependent upon the whims of a coach, say Fernando Clavijo. It might be prudent not to "stand by" your complaints, but it doesn't mean there isn't a legitimate beef there.
     
  18. copaantl98

    copaantl98 Member

    Apr 9, 2002
    Is this even a real interview?
     
  19. smudgeyjoe

    smudgeyjoe Member

    Dec 15, 2001
    Westminster Colorado
    There is a website for American Kicker magazine, and it is a soccer magazine. Their website only shows magazines for October and November so it may be a magazine that just started and is already on the way out.
    http://www.americankicker.com/index.htm

    I am definitely only as close to the team as a fan with no inside ties can be. I pay attention to what I read, see, and hear, and know everything that I can gather from what usually turn out to be third party sources. These quotes don't sound to me like the kind of dialogue that I would have expected to hear from Mark Chung. I don't really know anything about Fernando Clavijo except that he was a player, he was not particularly successful as a "wins and losses" coach at New England, and that it is definitely not good to be in his doghouse. I would say, though, that Chung and Kotschau are not two people that I ever heard bad things from. They seemed to usually be the consummate professionals. Obviously, Richie was seriously in FC's doghouse, and appeared to be glad to leave FC behind.
    It makes me worry about the climate on the team, and I wonder how the climate on this team could have ever been improved by the acquisition of Jovan. Just when our attacking game was just beginning to gel, we bring in a square peg when we finally just got the holes made perfectly round. If this in fact is something that Chung had to say, I can only imagine what the ever stoic Mathis might have to say after he gets used to the team climate here. I want to believe in FC, and as a faithful fan, I will remain a little bit blind, but I still see a team with a roster in turmoil and read nothing to tell me that anything has changed or is going to change. Please let me be wrong!!!
     
  20. WJMarx

    WJMarx BigSoccer Supporter

    May 5, 2003
    Boulder, CO
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ANONYMITY DOES NOT PROMOTE HONESTY!!!

    How often have you heard massive exagerations or frank lies spoken about defenseless individuals. EVERY story has 2 sides. Accepting just one side as gospel whilest squelching the other is simply not prudent. I, for one, am unimpressed with veiled complaints and less impressed by the complainers!
     
  21. askum33

    askum33 New Member

    Jun 2, 2004
    San Antonio, TX
    If I made it sound like I was saying they were unprof. then I'm sorry, that was not my intention, as for others they can defend themselves ;).

    My thing is that as a "professional," and this is in any profession, I've always been told to choose my words about my boss wisely. The fact that he was so blunt with the press is rather suprising to me and that bluntness is what made me question if the interview is real or not.

    The other hand is, maybe as fans we are just so used to hearing run of the mill PR bull-shiat and that makes us think that when we hear an honest, negative, answer we see that as unproffessional.
     
  22. Bonji

    Bonji Moderator

    Feb 4, 2003
    Denver, Colorado
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I feel like a professional needs to keep what they say to the press professional sounding.

    The following does not sound professional to me:
    Chunger, we get your point. You don't want to run at practice. This isn't professional because he sounds like a 6 year old.

    Again, a child may get away with this kind of answer but a 35 year old? Please. I can't say this about my boss in a professional setting, Chung can't either.

    A professional athlete needs to act in the press as any other professional anyone would act, not as a six year old.
     
  23. BPBlueSox

    BPBlueSox Member

    Ajax
    Netherlands
    Aug 21, 2003
    Georgia
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    agree with your post bonji. well said.
     
  24. Rei de Boston

    Rei de Boston New Member

    Mar 16, 2004
    I also agree. Chung may have valid complaints (the whole Ecuador thing for example) but the words he choses come across as whinny and childish.

    I liked Chung a lot as a player but if this is a sign of his maturity playing with him might have been terrible.
     
  25. Malaga CF fan

    Malaga CF fan Member

    Apr 19, 2000
    Fairfax, VA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Almost looks like this Chung interview was posted by a member of the Dominic Kinnear for Coach of the Year fanclub. I'm not sure I buy the veracity of the article. Too many stupids, too many out and out slams on former coaches who still work in the league, too much negativity from a player that really never went on record about anything.

    I guess if this is the way Chung is really like, there's a reason he was never a frequent subject of interviews or quotes. I just find it hard to believe that a player who has had as successful of a career as Chung has had would be full of so much bitterness regarding former coaches. It's not like Chung had a great year in the last year of Hanki either, but I'm surprised he comes out so strongly against Clavijo.

    IF this story is true, then Chung has lost a lot of respect in my eyes. But I trust Fox News more than I trust this report... :D
     

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